WIRED Investigates ICE Subpoena, Census Data Flaws, AI Surveillance, and Government Tech Controversies

ICE Wants to Know Everyone Who Bought a Certain Green Beanie From REI in the Last 2 Years

Homeland Security Investigations agents hit the outdoor retailer with a controversial subpoena as part of a dragnet search for the identities of protesters who entered a Minnesota church in March.

A US Census Report on Noncitizen Voting Used Bad Data to Reach Faulty Conclusions

Trump has touted a recent Census report. WIRED found grave flaws in its analysis and the process behind it, and confirmed the identity of several of its authors—among them a one-time DOGE affiliate.

Clearview AI Is Testing an AI Tool That Would Let Cops Unearth Your Life Online

InquiryIQ, a previously unreported prototype, tested a model from xAI, maker of Grok, to surface associates, social accounts, and other information about people identified through Clearview.

Your Driverless Cab Is Spying on You

Self-driving cars from Waymo, Zoox, and Tesla are studded with cameras and sensors. Some of them are pointing at riders.

The Trump Administration Sends a New Signal to Alien Disclosure Whistleblowers

The Defense Department issued a legal waiver authorizing current and former personnel to share unidentified anomalous phenomena–related classified information, but it doesn’t extend to other agencies.

Meta Sued Over Training Data for Its AI and Face-Recognition Systems

The proposed class action alleges Meta illegally harvested people’s Facebook and Instagram photos to train its AI image-generation models and to build its unreleased “NameTag” face recognition feature.

This Is Flock’s AI Search Tool for Cops

WIRED rebuilt Flock’s latest search tool from code the company sends to a police officer’s browser. Its AI can keep watch across multiple cameras for anyone fitting a written description.

Hackers Got Inside a Flock Camera. Its Data Shows How the System Really Works

A hacker collective pulled down a Flock camera and dumped its data. The files included thousands of videos and logs showing that the device captured 1.6 million images of 50,000 vehicles in 21 days.

The US Government Launched 3 Previously Unreported Investigations of Polymarket Trades

The agency that oversees prediction markets has investigated Polymarket trades on Biden pardons and the Iran war—and even more potential insider trading at Google, documents obtained by WIRED show.

The Census Bureau Is Overrun With Staffers From a MAGA Think Tank

The US Census is home to vast troves of sensitive data on nearly every person living in the country, which is used for apportioning and drawing congressional districts as well as allocating federal funding based on population sizes.

The Trump Administration Is Trying to Get Musk and X Out of a $137 Million EU Fine

The US government filed an application to support the company’s legal challenge against a fine issued under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, which Trump has described as “overseas extortion.”